He falls asleep again. I, Kaezar, daughter of Fernando, watch the sleeping face of the [Dayo] Jasper Perez. He said that he’s the son of Uncle Percival Pendragon, the [Dragon Slayer]. Well, he really looks like him. His eyes and mouth is something he got from his father and maybe he’s strong just like his father. His father, Percival Pendragon, is a reincarnated person from another world. Apparently, there’s other world apart from our world Tala. Uncle said that the world he came from doesn’t have any magic and the monsters were considered as works of fiction. He said that there are some “games” and “medias” that tells a story about people who were transported, summoned, or reincarnated on other worlds and he can’t believe that he will be experiencing it.

But, for him to fall asleep after drinking that drug… He might be still too tired after that fight. I don’t know how he did it but he managed to survive fighting four people at a time and even managed to kill one of them. Maybe it could be explain by saying “As expected of Pendragon’s Son!”. I heard from uncle that the act of killing is forbidden in his world so the people there aren’t comfortable with killing each other. How I wish I was born on that world instead. In this world you need strength to survive since you won’t know when would monsters or bandits attack the village so almost all citizen of this village knows how to use bows, of course it’s just at the beginner level but it can still buy us sometimes before the help arrive. If we could live in a world where I don’t need to fear about the threat of monsters and bandits then we can live peacefully only thinking about how to earn money to sustain ourselves. Haaa~.

I pick up the tray and get out of the room. Since I don’t have anything to do right now maybe I should help at compounding medicine. I might not look like it but I know how to compound some simple medicines.

The compounding room is located in a shed outside our house. It’s also, the same as any other building in our village, made up of wood. It’s a big shed since it also acts as our warehouse where we put the raw materials on compounding medicines. As I walk closer to the room, you’ll notice the odor of herbs and the odor got stronger as you walk closer to the door.

I open the door and the odor of herbs becomes much stronger than before. I closed the door and put on the apron which is hanging behind it. There’s also a cloth used to cover your mouth and nose and of course, I put it on with this, the strong odor decreases. Inside the room, there are different sizes of shelves. There are small ones which contain the tools use for compounding, the medium sized ones which contains finished product and lastly, the large one which contain different pots holding different kind of herbs. There’s also a large table in the middle of the room where my father and the other [Dayo] are silently making medicines. The big table looks like a small one due to many tools, pots, and other items atop of it. The [Dayo] is a big fat guy. This guy was found by my father loitering inside the forest. I don’t know why but most of the [Dayo]s are found inside the forest maybe there’s a rule or law about it. Well, there are some cases where a [Dayo] was actually seen being transported in the middle of the city that happened 500 years ago I think? I just read it to some books telling the history of this country, you might think we’re rich since we have a book but sadly it’s given by uncle Percival. Anyways, the [Dayo]’s name is Gino Cruz. He said that he’s from other world and got thrown in this world without him noticing. The last thing he remembers was he’s riding a vehicle called “jeepney” while watching an “anime” on his “laptop”. I don’t really understand what those things are but he said that “jeepney” is like a carriage and the difference is, it doesn’t need horse to run. The “anime” is one of the “medias” that uncle Percival talked about and “laptop” is a tool used to watch “anime” but that isn’t the main purpose of it. Well, he also explains its main purpose but the words he said get harder and harder so I really don’t remember it. Ah right, he’s also the one who created that medicine. Apparently, he’s making a magic medicine called potion but failed and that is the result. Potions are expensive medicine that can heal the wound of the user. We also sell potions but it’s rarely bought due to it being expensive which can’t be avoided since the ingredients used to create it were hard to gather or expensive in the market. Right now, father and Gino are researching a new recipe for creating potion using easily harvested ingredients. They almost succeeded only if it only don’t have that kind of side effect.

“Ah, Kaezar. You don’t need to help us here. Just look for the shop since there might be some costumer now.”

Father said without looking at me. Well then, it can’t be help I guess? I would like to learn more about compounding but there’s no one who look after the shop so I guess I should get going. Our shop is the only one who deals with medicines so all of the people in this village bought their medicine in us. The shop is located at the front side of our house while this shed is on the back. Our shop also acts as a clinic where the patient can stay while recovering.

“I almost forgot tell Jasper that his friend is also here.”

“Friend?”

“Apparently Gino is a friend of Jasper since childhood so go tell him if he wakes up.”

“Ok”

I take off my apron and mask and hang it on the back of the door again. I wonder why he prioritized compounding medicine than visiting his friend. Maybe they’re fighting with each other…

Right now, I am watching the store. Though we call it a store there’s only a desk can be seen in this room. There’s no product to display since medicine are quick to go bad so we accept only request on what medicine the costumer want and my father compounded them. It might be time consuming but this way we can lessen our loss and most of the costumer tells the symptoms of their sickness or if they need it to heal a particular injury. Depending on what they say, my father compounds it. It’s just an hour after lunch so there’s almost no costumer right now. It might look our shop isn’t going well but the fact is it’s just the time of the day where the [Adventurers] are out in the field. They will probably come back at sun set and buy some healing medicine for their injuries. Of course some of them bought healing medicine before setting out but there are some who didn’t and buy our products after they return. The latter groups are the type of [Adventurers] who hunts nearby and the former hunts deeper inside the forest where strong monsters lurks.

What are [Adventurers]? They are a group of people who hunts monster and/or dive inside the [Dungeons]. They hunt monster to gather raw materials needed to produce different kinds of items, [Magic Stones] which serves as the monster’s heart and use to enhance equipment and runs the magic tools used in our daily lives, or to gather food since most of them are edible. [Dungeons] are places where monster gathers and according to [Adventurers] the [Dungeons] are alive and they create monsters inside them and eat the remains of anything except the monster it created. They lure different living beings inside and let the monsters it created to kill it. Surprisingly, the monsters born inside the [Dungeons] doesn’t need to eat to survive they just wander around inside the [Dungeons] hunting intruders so that the [Dungeons] can survive. There’s also a gem which serves as a heart of it destroying it kills the dungeon and make it disappear as if it’s not there in the first place so they say. Sometimes our costumers teach me about different things so I ended up knowing about this.

“A [Dayo] huh…”

I silently mutter as I stare at the shop’s door. [Dayo] a person who came from another world, it can be a summoned, like the [Hero] Ayskrimm, a transported, like Jasper and Gino, or a reincarnated one like uncle Percival. The reason why they appear on this world is still unknown but they said that it’s a sign that something bad is going to happen. Personally, I think that something bad will happen if a [Dayo] was summoned than other cases (transported and reincarnated). Usually summoning a [Dayo] will make him/her a [Hero] and it’s only permitted if the world will be facing a foe that the original residents can’t manage. Well, summoning a [Dayo] or [Hero] is only possible by asking God. Many tried to recreate the magic circle used to summoning a [Hero] but no one succeeded.

*Creeak*

“Excuse me~”

A costumer shows up! I did my best to entertain the costumer and hopefully this kind of daily life continue!

I, Jasper Perez, woke up again. This time the clouds are dyed with color red due to the setting of the sun. It’s weird for me to have a dream about going to another world and getting trick to drink a drug. Yup, at least I want to make it a dream but sadly the reality is too harsh. It appears that the events that are best on dreams and fantasy stories are now my reality.

“Haa…”

I sighed as I get up from the bed. Currently, I am in what you can call a fantasy world or more like a fantasy game world where level exist, monsters exist, hopefully magic exist, and that fucking drug exist. I scratched my head hard cursing my own destiny to have something like this. Yeah it would be great if I was given a cheat abilities just like the protagonist of transported people novel but sadly the God of this world, also the former, likes to skip explaining before transporting people. Maybe they act on a whim? But honestly, it’s a pain. The first thing that happen after getting transported here is to kill a monster that look like a rabbit standing on its two feet and fight like a boxer then after it fighting four bandits at the same time. Luckily someone saves me and cure my wounds but sadly the medicine that I intake has a detestable side effect. It makes you answer all the question asks but I feel that it’s not only limited on question, it feels like it can also control my body. Thankfully the guy who let me drink that medicine is not a bad guy, though it’s debatable if he’s really not a bad one.

“Oh yeah, my shoulder should be injured right?”

I mutter at myself as I look at my right shoulder. There’s a bandage on it and there’s a trace of blood can be seen on the bandage. It looks painful but strangely it doesn’t hurt. I rotate my shoulder just to try if there’s something wrong but I can do it normally. Thank God because that medicine is effective at least. If only that side effect doesn’t exist then I will feel gratitude with all of my heart.

*Tok tok tok*

Someone knock at the door and without waiting for my reply the door opens. Seriously, if you’re going to knock and enter the door without waiting for a reply from someone inside then you should just enter without knocking. Well, there’s a possibility of me being asleep but at least wait for about 5 seconds before entering.

The one who enter is the Kaezar look alike. No her name is also Kaezar so I should say that the one who enter is Kaezar. Just like before, she’s carrying a tray with a bowl of something. The tray and bowl are made up of wood and there’s a wooden spoon beside the bowl. Right, I haven’t eaten anything since I came in this world.

“How are you feeling?”

Kaezar asks while smiling.

“I think I’m fine”

I answered as I tried to get up of the bed but Kaezar said that I should rest because even though my wounds are now healed because of the medicine I haven’t recovered my strength yet.

“Sorry for giving you that medicine”

Kaezar said while she put the tray on the desk and pull out the chair on it.

Seriously, why did they administer that medicine if they already knew the side effects of it?

I want to say it out loud but thankfully nothing serious happen after I drink that medicine. The only thing they did was to ask me a few questions about myself and other than that they did nothing. If I were in their position and I also has that kind of medicine I think I will do the same, of course only in this world since in the previous world there’s the so called “Human Rights” where it protect the rights of the humans. But frankly, I think the human rights are being violated in our country in the past months. Ever since the new president sit at his position and declared the war on drugs, most of the news in the television, radios, and newspaper will have an article saying “A drug pusher was caught then he resist the police and died!” and “Another man was found dead at XX place and it was believed that the man was connected with drugs!”. Right now, the news about killings became fewer thankfully.

“It’s nothing. I’ll do the same thing if I were in your case.”

Let’s just tell something nice, though I’m not sure it’s nice to drug someone just to confirm their identities.

“And also about the one who created that drug… Apparently, it’s your friend Gino Cruz”

Knowing who created the drug makes me angrier at it. That guy develops that kind of drug! What the hell is going on in his head!? Making a drug that can hypnotize someone on the pretext of healing them! If he uses it wrongly then I don’t know what kind of criminal my friend would become. Well, if he’s going to create it and share it with me then I would not be this angry though.

“Don’t worry, he don’t have any ulterior motive on creating that drug. He’s creating a magic potion from cheaper materials and it almost succeeded if it only didn’t have that kind of side effect.”

It may be showing on my face since Kaezar said something to support about him developing that drug. But magic potion huh… Is it similar to the potion usually seen on games? The type of beverage/medicine that can restore HP of the user and basing on what Kaezar said, it seems to be expensive and Gino is finding a way to create that kind of drug using cheap materials. Learning about the circumstances behind it appeases my anger a little bit. Wait that accident happened when were together right? So how come he already started crafting even though a day hasn’t passed when we appears here?

“Uhmm… Gino is here right?”

“Yes”

“May I ask for how long?”

“About a month now. He was found in the forest loitering at the forest looking curiously at his surroundings luckily he didn’t encounter any monsters or bandits while he’s inside the forest since he doesn’t have any weapon to protect himself against them.”

“Wow… He’s really lucky if that is the case. As for me, after wandering for a bit, I encounter a monster then after finding a path I encounter some bandits”

“Yes he’s lucky”

But something’s bothering me. How come that he’s already staying in this world for a month now? We’re together when that incident happened so how come that he came earlier than me? Maybe there’s a queue on who’s going to re-spawn in this world? But this confirms that I’m not the only one who was transported from Earth to this world. Maybe every passenger of the jeepney was transported or is it just us who were transported? I think I need to investigate this. Maybe by investigating this I can get a clue on how could I return to Earth.

“By the way, where is he?”

For now I guess I should talk with him about this world. I don’t want to ask Kaezar since I don’t want to take her time anymore but if it’s her father then I won’t hesitate to consume his time asking about every little thing. I think I have the right for it since he practically drugged me.

“Right now he’s in the dining room eating.”

“Thanks. Ah can you guide me there?”

“Yes but only after you finished eating.”

After eating the meal prepared by Kaezar, we are now walking towards the dining room. But seriously, I didn’t expect to experience ‘that’ in this world. And by ‘that’ I mean the thing that the stupid couples that’s so in-love with each other would typically do. Yes, I’ve been hand fed by Kaezar though there’s no romantic atmosphere at all it’s only to the level of taking care of someone sick but it doesn’t mean that the embarrassment I felt while being hand fed was a joke. My heart beats fast as I eat and I thought, “When will I be release from this embarrassment”. It can’t be help that I will feel embarrassed. Imagine you are being fed by someone you like though I know that the Kaezar here is a different person than the Kaezar in Earth but still they have the same voice and face which made me forgot that she and her are two different person. That scene before was something I am imagining that will happen if we ended up dating each other . I tried resisting but my resistance bears no fruit. She said that I am an injured person so I better let her feed me. I rebuked by saying that I’m already alright due to the medicine but she shot me down by saying it’s better to let my shoulder rest since that medicine was just a prototype and by no means it can heal injuries that fast. Haa… When I tried to move my shoulder back then I don’t feel any kind of problem but saying denying her goodwill will only make me look bad. But… I must admit. I felt a little happy being hand fed by her.

“We’re here”

Oh we’re already here. Should I be angry at him for creating that kind of medicine? Or should I feel happy that I’ll met someone I know in this foreign world? There’s no point on thinking about it right now so let’s just meet him for now.

The door opens and I see someone sitting in a relax fashion in a chair while drinking. He has this relax atmosphere around him as if he’s in his house. How can he be that relaxed even though we are transported in an unknown world? Maybe he became familiar in this world since he’s already here for a month but how come he came a month earlier than me here? Did I sleep for a month inside a forest? That’s impossible. Sleeping defenselessly inside a forest full of dangers, what kind of fool would do that?

“Yo!”

Gino casually said while putting his cup on the table. I look around the room to see if Kaezar’s father is here but he’s not. The dining room only has a simple table with chairs around it, a simple kitchen and a sink made of bamboo. So they has a bamboo here huh… Somehow, instead of feeling I am in the medieval age Europe it feels like I am still somewhere in the Philippines visiting some relatives that were far from the reach of modern appliances. Of course if I ignore that sword wielding people and that medicine.

“How are you? Been a month right?”

“A month you say… For me it’s just a day though.”

I said complainingly while thanking Kaezar for guiding me here. I proceeded to sit down at the chair facing Gino. Kaezar went to the kitchen preparing something.

“A day? I’m already staying here for a month though and both of us was inside that jeepney when that happened you know?”

Did I really sleep in the forest for a month without waking up? It seems impossible but if I really did then I really have a good luck.

“And also, there’s someone I want you to meet but he’s still not back… Oi Kaezar! When will Jasper come back?”

Jasper? Someone with the same name as me?

“Jasper? Who’s that?”

Kaezar looks at him confused with what he said. Her expression says ‘I don’t know who’s that’.

“You know, the one who passionately tried to win your heart even though you already rejected him. The one who went inside the forest last night to hunt Feral Owls, the one who looks exactly the same as that one while being a different person at the same time”

Gino points his finger on me when he said the last part but I also have someone who looks like me? Seriously, what’s with this world? Is this Edolas?

“Passionately? Rejected? Yes I rejected quite few men and all of them gave up. No one stays and tried to win my affection after being rejected though. Seriously, are you teasing me again?”

Kaezar said with a fed up voice and Gino seems to be surprised by what she said. “I am pretty sure that that guy existed.” Gino mutters to himself. I don’t quite follow on what they are talking about but maybe it’s something that I don’t need to know since it happens before I came here. But something’s bugging me… Gino said that someone with the same appearance of me went inside the forest last night and hasn’t come back since then and I wake up inside the forest at morning today… It can’t be that that Jasper died and I replaced him in the place where he died right? That can’t be happening… It’s just a coincident that I wake up in the forest while that Jasper enters the forest last night. He might be drinking or eating at his own house right now and forgot to show his face here. Hahahahaha! That’s it! it’s just a coincidence. Even though Kaezar appears that she doesn’t know him but I guess they’re just playing a prank on me so that I feel agitated by that. You know, Gino likes this kind of joke and maybe he talks with Kaezar to go with him… Yes… That’s it… It’s not that I replace the Jasper here at the moment he died. Yup…

“Yeah I really like to tease people but come on, I mean, before he leaves he told me that he’ll ask you again to be his lover and that night also you told me that you’ll accept him right?”

Even that flag isn’t related to me right? That death flag isn’t triggered right! There’s no way that Jasper-kun died! He’ll surely come back and ask Kaezar to be his lover again and they’ll live happily ever after!

“?? What are you talking about? Certainly we talked with each other last night but it’s not about that. We talked about…. Hmmmm… What did we talked again last night?”

She forgot!?

“I’m telling you that it’s about Jasper!”

“That guy?”

Kaezar pointed at me.

“Not that guy! Certainly, he’s Jasper but not him! The one who courted you!”

“As I am saying, I don’t know who’s Jasper you’re talking about!”

“Jasper! You know that Jasper! Who was adopted by the village chief! The one who grew up with you! The one who continued to court you even though you already rejected him!”

I don’t know who are you but please Jasper-kun, come here and mediate with these two. Actually, it doesn’t need to be you but can anyone stop this two! It feels that any moment now something will fly. It can be that wooden plate behind Kaezar or the cup at the table.

“Wait a minute! The village chief didn’t adopt anyone!”

“Yes he does! And everyone in this village knows him! Ask your father and he surely knows him too!”

“Fine! I’ll ask my father but if he don’t know who’s your talking about then I’ll really get mad at you!”

Kaezar left the room abandoning what she’s doing in the kitchen well, she abandoned it ever since they got heated up discussing who’s this Jasper.

“Seriously… Why did she act as if he never existed? Even though she said that she loves him and now she’ll act as if he never existed… Did they fight or something?”

Gino seems to be tired at their fierce exchange since he gulps down his cup.

“Uhmm.. Is it okay for me to ask something?”

“Ah.. yes.”

“Who’s this Jasper you’re talking about?”

“That guy… He looks the same exactly as you.”

“Okay… so where exactly are we? Are we in Edolas?”

“Hmmm… How should I say this… Well, let’s just say that were in the world like Edolas but our counterpart here doesn’t acts the opposite of us. Hmmm… just think of this world as a parallel world but the technology came from the medieval period and add it with fantasy settings where monsters and magic exist.”

“O..kay?”

I don’t quite get it but I think I understand it to a certain extent.

“And also this world name is Tala.”

“Tala?”

“Yes Tala”

Tala is a tagalog word for stars right? Bituin is also one. But seriously… Why would they name this world as [Tala] and the transported, reincarnated, or summoned people as [Dayo]. Isn’t this kind of genre commonly found in Japanese web novels? So why the hell are they using Filipino words here?

“Oh and also, the money here consists of gold coins, big silver coins, silver coins, big copper coins, and copper coins. Whereas, 10 copper coins = 1 big copper coin, 10 big copper coins = 1 silver coin, 10 silver coins = 1 big silver coin and 10 big silver coins = 1 gold coin. Also except for being a fantasy world, it also serves as a game world where level and status exist. Though I don’t need to explain it to you since I know that you already read the tutorial right?”

“Yes I read it.”

And you act like a NPC at the tutorial phase of the game. Though I won’t say it since I am grateful at him teaching me these trivial things.

“Oh right, about the geography of this world have 5 continents, the central continent, north continent, east continent, west continent and south continent. This kingdom, Kingdom of Sevir is located at the top part of the east continent and this kingdom has 4 seasons, right now we’re on spring.”

So that means that we can experience other season as well such as winter, fall and winter. I said winter two times because it’s important. You know, in winter ‘that’ appears. Something that the tropical nations can’t enjoy, the thing you call snow. Ever since I was a kid I wanted to see snow falling from the sky and slowly, they’ll paint the earth white. I’m quite excited for it. But seriously, it’s still spring but it feels a little chilly for me. Maybe because I grew up in a world where the sun’s heat was amplified by the pollution or maybe my body isn’t accustomed yet to these seasons. I wonder how cold will it be when winter arrives? Thinking about it drain my excitement about snows.

“Well, that’s all I know about this world, we can figure it out after we starts our adventurer’s life!”

Is it just me or this guy suddenly announced that we’re going to be an adventurer? Is this guy one of those so called “hot-blooded” and “muscle brain” guys? Why would you risk your life when you can live comfortably protected by the walls of the city? Though I would be lying if I say that I don’t want to become an adventurer but I need to prepare myself before going out of the walls. How can he just went out even though we practically don’t know how to fight? Well, the case of bandits and the boxer rabbit are special case since my body moves by instinct maybe to protect my very own life but instead of trusting on instinct I want to learn how to properly move myself in combat. Well, by having this kind of thought maybe I am also one of those “hot-blooded” and “muscle brain”… No, just “hot-blooded” since I use my head during fights.

“So you say but can you confidently say that you’ll be safe as we travel?”

“Don’t worry about it, experience is the best teacher! I’ll manage somehow!”

Yup, I’m not wrong to classify my friend as a “muscle brain”.

“You know, there’s a lot of danger at roads right? There’s those animal like things and bandits outside right?”

“Yeah I know.”

“Good. It seems that you know, then how are you going to fight them?”

“By using my weapon?”

This guy… Is he really serious about that answer? Please do tell me that he’s joking. I can’t see him surviving facing bandits and those monsters.

“Yeah sure you have your weapon but do you know how to use them?”

“Hmm… A sword is used for slashing, spear for piercing and a mace for smashing right?”

Gino said while putting one of his fingers on his chin while tilting his head. Don’t try to act cute! It’s disgusting!

“You know… You can’t win by that kind of thinking. The only future I can see if you’re seriously going to become an adventurer with that kind of knowledge is you getting killed by monsters and when you met a bandit, you can be sold as a slave worst get killed.”

Trying to hold down my anger towards this idiot, I implied that he needs to learn how-to-fight properly. I know that he’s not that stupid for him to not to pick up on what I am implying in an obvious way but if he seriously said that he don’t understand I’ll punch him.

“I don’t unde—Wait! Wait!! I’m kidding! Com’on! Who the hell will go be an adventurer without learning a basic or two in fighting?”

I almost punched him. If he didn’t seriously answer me then my fist will surely land on his face.

“So, do you know where we could learn about it?”

“Hmmm… I know someone but he’s still not back.”

“Don’t tell me that you’re going to ask that Jasper to teach us?”

“Yeah is there a problem at that?”

Certainly there’s no problem at that but imagine talking to someone with the same face and name as you, wouldn’t be that awkward? Imagine if you’re reflection in the mirror suddenly talks to you… No that’s scary not awkward… Ahh! For me it’s awkward!

“Don’t you know someone else who can teach us? It seems to be awkward, at least for me, to talk to someone who looks the same as me with the same name…”

“Hmmm… Well, there’s this girl whom I know that can teach us… Of course she’s an adventurer but…”

“But?”

“I’m not good at talking to her but let’s ask her if Jasper is still not back tomorrow.”

Somehow, it feels weird hearing your name even though you know that it’s not you that he’s talking about…

Suddenly, the door violently opened which surprised me. When I look at the door, there’s Kaezar emitting some menacing aura around her. She’s snapped! It also happens on Earth when we are high school student where I accidentally drop her phone leaving a crack on its screen. She approached me with the same aura that Tala-Kaezar currently has… Thinking about it, I feel I’m lucky since I survived that. Brooms, dust pan, books, anything that she managed to lift came flying at me. Of course I ran with all my might but that happened because she surprised me I’m concentrating on playing when she silently approached me and yell right in front of my ears. After she calmed down, the room looks like a storm went past through it and I sustain some bruises here and there and when I explained that it’s her fault, she unreasonably said that it’s not since I am the one who’s holding her phone and not her.

“You liar! Is it really fun to play your jokes on me!?”

“W-w-wait! I’m not lying! It’s true! Jasper really exist!”

“Haah!? I asked my father and the village chief but they don’t have any idea on what you’re talking about!”

Every step that Tala-Kaezar takes makes my spine feel cold. Even though it’s not directed at me, I still feel scared at her. I slowly leave my seat while keeping her in check. Slowly walks towards the door without her or Gino noticing and silently walk outside the room. I slowly close the door accompanied by Gino’s scream and the sound of things crashing to the floor.

“My condolence, I hope that you survive this storm”

Offering my prayers to him, I went back to the room where I wake up. It’s already dark so let’s sleep.